LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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COPYRIGHT, 1884, by C. HAVEN, 






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" The Secret." 



When persons positively determine upon mastering " the art of winged words,'' either for 
the purpose of becoming court or newspaper reporters, short-hand amanuenses, or to use it for their 
own particular pleasure, or to impart it to others, the first thing they are most apt to do is to assidu- 
ously scan the newspapers for advertisements of schools teaching the art, and to quite as assiduously 
question all their friends and acquaintances who are supposed, however remotely, to possess any 
information relative to what books to purchase, where to get them, which "system'' is best to learn 
and whether it could best be studied at home or from a personal tutor, and, in either case, the 
charges thereof. The length of time necessary to obtain proficiency and the amount of application, 
with how much natural talent or acquired knowledge a student should first possess, are also ques- 
tions which enter, more or less, into the meditations and enquiries of the aspirant for phonographic 
skill. If the acquaintances of the enquirer be large, and her or his field of observation extended, 
it is quite likely much conflicting information, if we may call it information, may be given; adher- 
ents of different "systems" of short-hand suggesting their own pet one and condemning all others, 
and all differing in time required to learn, amount of speed essential to perfection, and prices 
charged therefor, until the thirster after phonographic knowledge is often afterwards more in the 
dark with regard to the truth of the matter than before. 

\, in learning short hand — as in other things — there is a wrong way and a right one ; an 
ancient way and a modern one. And. as it is sometimes an impossibility for one unfamiliar with the 
advantages of the modern, and the disadvantages of the ancient way, to tell at first sight which is 
which, many persons mistakenly choose the ancient, and the following is their 

SAD EXPERIENCE: 

The aspirants who finally decide to purchase a book printed on the ancient plan, and learn 
themselves, or who learn from a teacher teaching the ancient plan, generally start out almost giddy- 
headed with vision- of lightning rapidity of hand to be attained in the very near future, and the 
consequent rapid accumulation of wealth, if their object is such. Their teacher or their book in- 
forms them that the time necessary to be given to the art by means of that system of instruction is 
very limited indeed ; and instances are cited wherein such a writer of the system now occupies some 
dazzling height on the ladder of fame, due entirely to the study of that particular method. And so 
the days of study seem halcyon as they pass 'even though some things are hard to understand) and 
in a few months, perhaps, the student has finished the book, or the course of lessons from the mas- 
ter, when, lo and behold ! the book concludes with the cheering information of another yet to be gone 
through before efficiency can be acquired, or the teacher blandly suggests another quarter's tuition 
advisable in order to acquire " the reporting style." 

At first there is a slight disposition upon the part of students to get somewhat angry at this, 
when it was expected that the now past course, or book, was to have completed their knowdedge in 
the direction sought for; but, having entered the fight to win, this feeling gives place to a settled 
determination "to fight it out on that line if it takes all summer," (and all will admit that close 
study, with the thermometer at blood heat, is very close study indeed). Well, another book is 
wrestled through with, or another quarter is completed, and the money for it gone; but not until 
the student's eyes are widely opened to the fact that much — aye, three-fourths of the previously ac- 
quired information — has to be absolutely and entirely forgotten, and replaced by other ingenious 
hooks and crooks which are stated in the last book to be better for actual work, and which the 
teacher will say must be acquired if much speed (?) is desired. 

At this the students naturally wonder wherein lies the wisdom of losing so much valuable time 
learning forms which in actual practice they must abandon. But to this, reasoning the teacher, 
with a wise countenance, explains : " To discipline the mind, in order that it may be better pre- 
pared to receive the grand consummations of the coveted 'reporting style.' " 

"Well, this second course finished, have they at last secured their desired attainments?" ask 
you. Why bless you, no ! But, happily for the compilers of books, for the teacher, and the dealer 
in lead pencils and stationery, they are yet in blissful ignorance of that fact, and the still further in- 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 



formation that yet another book, or another course of instruction must be gone through with in 
order to complete their "style," though very discouraging news, is nevertheless stolidly acted upon 
by some of the more determined students, but the end is not yet, by the ancient method. 

However, the determination is sooner or later arrived at that for practice the unalloyed so- 
ciety of a nice slow reader (a bosom friend or relative) would now probably be the best arrange- 
ment, and so two hours a day are regularly closeted, with his boon companion, an open book, and 
pounds of paper and sharpened pencils. JBy degrees the student finds this the most satisfactory of 
all previous attempts? though each additional ten words per minute seem to come slower than the 
preceding ttm. But persistency conquers at last, and after a year or two or more of the ancient 
method practice, having noised abroad their abilities, these persistent ones, with sometimes as great 
a conceit of the system acquired as their successful adviser had, finally get a chance at actual work, 
and jot the spoken words clown with a great deal more rapidity than they find it possible to read 
them with afterwards. Most of the sentences, possibly, they can read off-hand, but in one sentence 
a little word saucily kicks up its heels at them and defies their greatest ingenuity to solve. Hold 
the paper at whatever angles they will, that little word — of course, the key to the whole sentence — 
absolutely and positively refuses to be read, hides itself in the shadow and creases of the paper, and 
sometimes even half disappears from sight, only to, the next instant, start into amazingly full view, 
but more enigmatical than ever. This may seem strange, but mot all short-hand writers, who 
learned by the ancient method, have experienced this peculiarity of rapidly- made short-hand signs, 
in the early period of their achievements. Not willing to allow the sentence to go unwritten, how- 
ever, and having no recollection of the speaker's intention when uttering that paragraph, our novice 
patches it up the best he can, and afterwards, if he is an amanuensis, finds out when his employer 
looks over the transcript, that the word was one of the simplest kind, and, on again referring to his 
notes, our young phonographer cannot for the life of him see why he couldn't read that word, so 
plain to him now that he knows what it ought to have been. 

A resolution is there registered that more care will be taken with future writing, and, where 
the students are really in earnest and disposed to learn, after a few years of struggle one out of every 
hundred finally succeed, even by the ancient methods of learning. But when they have got to 
be members of the profession and become acquainted with their professional brethren there are a 
few discoveries which they will'be apt to make, viz. : 

That scarce any of the profession adhere to those old principles they were years ago in- 
structed in, or that were laid down as imperative by the authors of the old " system " they are sup- 
posed to represent. 

That most of the profession have little acquired tricks of their own to meet the deficiencies 
of those systems originally studied. 

That many have adopted ideas from other systems newer than the old one they first learned, 
and in some instances these adoptions were taken from several other systems. 

There are also some discoveries that they will not make : 

They will not discover wherein any professional phonographer declares himself to have been 
benefited by having to acquire that mass of useless information which most teachers compel their 
pupils to itarn, simply, as they claim, to strengthen the memory, but which imformation pupils are 
afterwards taught to throw away. 

They will not discover wherein such acquisition of information serves to strengthen anything 
save the pocket books of the aloresaid teachers themselves. 

They will not discover wherein the three to ten books of the system they studied (which 
might have been more fitly contained in a small-sized pamphlet) enriched any one more than the 
author and the book-seller. 

There are many other points derogatory to the ancient method of teaching, which might be 
truthfully included in the foregoing description, but enough has been said, for those who have suc- 
ceeded by the old method, as well as the thousands who have failed in attempting it, to recognize in 
the foregoing their own sad experience. And when we state that the ancient method is the one 
slid used to-day by nearly all teachers of phonography, and is taught in all phonographic lesson 
sheets or text books, excepting Haven's Practical Phonography, it will be seen what a great risk 
would-be learners of short-hand run when choosing a teacher or textbook. 

And now, having described the ancient way of teaching or learning, it is no more than fair 
to describe 

THE MODERN WAY, 

Or, as it is as frequently called, the " Haven Method of Instruction," from the name of its origin- 
ator. The " Haven Method of Instruction " requires but a few words to describe : 

Useless preliminary styles are dispensed with. Only one form for all purposes is taught, and that 
form the one used in all actual work. The lessons required are hence reduced to fifteen in his 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING 



book and twelve at his college, and these are not twelve difficult lessons, but twelve easy ones, sim- 
plicity of language and clearness of explanation being especially sought in their compilation, which 
was a work of nearly eight years. Each lesson is so graded that the pupil passes easily and natur- 
ally from one step to another, accomplishing the entire theory in an incredibly short time. Further- 
more, retaining whatever good points are common to the theories of all phonographic authors, Mr. 
Haven's lessons contain much important information neither taught by the teachers of the old 
method nor contained in any published form, save his own book and lessons, viz. : The " trade 
secrets " of the profession, besides many important time-saving improvements, and speed-gaining 
elements of his own invention, the outgrowth of a varied short-hand experience, extending over 
every department of a short-hand writer's duties. And the best point about the entire " Haven 
Method of Instruction" is that the lessons can be as readily understood by children as by adults, 
and are equally beneficial to the novice or the professional ; the former easily gaining a perfect 
knowledge of the art from the lessons, while the professional, writing any system of phonography, 
can materially and quickly add to his present rate of speed by procuring them, and greatly increase 
the facility of reading his notes. 

Probably the best proof of the superiority of the " Haven Method of Instruction" over all 
others, is to submit to the reader the following specimen testimonial of the good work being done 
at Mr. Haven's Philadelphia College. The signature is that of the Rev. D. B. Harris, of the New 
Jersey M. E. Conference;* 

Haddonfield, N. J., January 8th, 1SS4. 
To Curtis Haven, Principal of Haven s College of Phonography and Type- Writing, T322 Chest- 
nut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Dear Sir : — My son, Walter C. Harris, aged seventeen, having completed a three-months' 
course in Short-hand and Type-writing at your College, and being perfected in that time, without 
any PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE of either art, I write to you to express my entire satisfaction with your 
method of instruction, and also with the fact of your placing him in a remunerative position upon 
the completion of his course. Respectfully, 

D. B. Harris. 

The above is by no means an unusual occurrence at Haven's College of Phonography and 
Type-writing, but can any other short-hand teaching institution truthfully say as much ? We know 
of none, nor is it possible except by the use of Haven's lessons, as found in his published text- 
book, or in his newspaper, The Modern Reporter. 

But it is unnecessary to dilate further in this article upon differences of teaching. The reader 
has looked upon the two pen pictures of the foregoing, and the contrast is evident enough for us to 
proceed to a consideration of the features which really constitute 

THE SECRET OF SHORT-HAND WRITING, 

As applied to the masses ; not to the select few only. Some few people possess enough genius and 
perseverance to become rapid writers of any system of short-hand, \\\\\\five or ten years practice, but 
there are also scores of phonographers who learned under the old method of teaching whose speed 
is insufficient, and who are in danger at any moment of losing their situations, or never being able 
to get better ones, because of their inability to rise higher in their profession — to attain more speed 
and more ease in reading. It is to these stragglers as well as to would-be short hand writers who 
do not want to make the sad mistakes that their predecessors have made, that these closing words 
are written. The features which really constitute the secret of rapid short-hand writing, are : 

1. The alphabet of the short-hand system written must be composed almost entirely of light- 
line characters. 

2. The letters must be formed of the simplest straight lines or curves, but never of compound 
characters. 

3. No short-hand letter must be represented by more than one sign, in order to avoid hesita- 
tion in writing. 

4. It must be possible to write every letter of a word, without disjunctive, if necessary. 
That is, there must be no disjoined vowels, or prefixes, or affixes, as all disjunclures require longer 
time to write than three times as many joined characters. 

5. The vowel portions of most syllables must be indicated invisibly, but the method of doing 
it should be simple enough for a child of ten years of age to memorize in a few minutes. 

6. When vowels begin a word it should be possible to join that vowel to the rest of the 
word to insure easy reading. 

7. When it is desired to write any vowel it should be possible to join it between the conso- 
nants where it is to be pronounced. 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. e 

8. The letters of the alphabet should be such that a personal name can be as easily read as 
if written in regular penmanship. 

9. The system should possess a method of figure representation as complete and simple as 
its alphabet. 

10. Word and phrase signs should be few and far between. 

11. Arbitrary characters, rules and exceptions, ditto. 

12. It should be possible to indicate the number of syllables in a word, for ease in reading. 

13. And last, but not not least, the short-hand writing, while absolutely phonetic, should be 
so unvarying in its outlines that all correct writers of it could read their notes without hesitancy, no 
matter how^great the speed at which the notes were written, and, at the same time, these same 
notes be as plain as print to any other writer of die system. 

Above has been given a baker's dozen of qualifications which must be the underlying prin- 
ciples of any system of short-hand by which the greatest speed, with ease of reading, can be acquired, 
all of which are notoriously known by the profession to be absent from all methods of phonography 
except Haven's, and which absence is the cause of so many failures by the other methods, and 
whose presence in Haven's methods of instruction, and in his complete text book entitled Haven's 
Practical Phonography, makes failures an almost impossibility, simplifying phonographic short -hand 
to such an extent that any person possessing a common school education can acquire and use it 
profitably, besides giving to learners of the other methods greater possibilities by an adoption of its 
improved methods for speed and legibility. For further testimony the reader is respectfully referred 
to the remaining pages of this pamphlet. 



IF YOU ARE 

ABOUT TO LEARN 

SHORT-HAND 

YOU SHOULD BE CAREFUL TO LEARN ONLY THE BEST SYSTEM; the best 
being the one which is capable of being learned in the shortest time, gives the greatest speed when 
learned, and is the easiest read when written. 

Many a hopeful young man or woman has worked hard day after day, and night after night, 
only to find in the end their hard work and precious time wasted, and their hopes dashed to the 
ground, simply because they either attempted to learn a system which possessed so many exceptions 
to first principles that it required years to thoroughly memorize, or because the system, where easily 
learned, was not brief enough for rapid writing, excepting to a few naturally rapid writers after 
years of practice, or because the abbreviations of the system were too conflicting to b£ read with 
any degree of certainty, except by persons of most re?narkable memory, who remembered nearly all 
the speaker said, without the aid of short-hand writing. 

It is no small wonder, therefore, that persons who have tried systems of the above character 
simply because a few persons whom they knew had become proficient in them, should have become 
convinced and succeeded in convincing many of their friends that rapid short-hand writing could 
be attained only by a select few, that few often being persons who were willing to give from three 
to five years to the closest practice, before they could correctly report an average rapid speaker. 

Question any official court short-hand writer and you will find, if he is either a Pitman, 
Graham or Munson writer, that he began studying phonography not less than* five years before, 
while many will tell you they have been short-hand writers for ten or twenty years. This is univer- 
sally the case with learners of these and all other systems, excepting Haven's — you do not find the 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 



short-hand writers of those systems occupying responsible positions until after many years of study 
and practice, and often not until after very many years of practice. 



WHY? 



Because NONE of those systems combine these entire three necessities: The capa- 
bility of being learned in the shortest time, giving the greatest speed when learned, and being the 
easiest read when written. 

Each of them contain one or two of these requisites, but none of them all three. 

THE 
ONLY SYSTEM OF SHORT-HAND WRITING 

ACTUALLY CONTAINING 
THE THREE REQUISITES NAMED ABOVE, 

Viz : — Capability of being learned in the shortest time, giving the greatest speed when learned, 
and being the easiest read when written — 

IS HAVEN'S PRACTICAL PHONOGRAPHY. 
BECAUSE 

Haven's Practical Phonography may be easily learned in twelve lessons. 

Other systems require from thirty to fifty lessons. 

Haven's Practical Phonography teaches reporting style in the first lesson. 

Other systems teach first what they call a "corresponding style," then tell the student to 
forget that way of writing and write in their " easy reporting style," and after the student has 
struggled on for months on that basis, cooly inform him or her that for actual reporting they must 
learn a still briefer style, which necessitates the student unlearning most of his former know ledge, 
and is equivalent to beginning over again. 

Haven's Practical Phonography possesses less exceptions in writing than 

other systems of short-hand writing. 

Other systems are crowded with exceptional rules, because of the inadequacy of their 
alphabets, and such exceptional rules necessitating much study and care in writing, both speed and 
legibility are endangered, and those systems require much more time to learn to write and read. 

Haven's Practical Phonography alphabetically contains very few heavy 
characters. 

Other systems have as many heavy characters in their alphabet as light ones, and as heavy 
signs require three times the time to write as light ones, it is easily seen that speed can be obtained 
quicker by Haven,\s Practical Phonography than by these other methods. 



Two Dollars sent to Curtis Haven, I». O. Lock Box, Philadelphia, I'a. 
will secure the Book, free of postage, to any address. 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 



HAVEN'S PRACTICAL PHONOGRAPHY 

GAINS ITS SPEED 

— -BY— 
Joined Vowels, 

No Disjtinctures of any kind, 
% Few Exceptions, 

Easy Flowing Curves, 

No Compound Letters. 

And a Preponderance of Light Outlines. 



HAVEN'S PRACTICAL PHONOGRAPHY 

IS EASY TO READ, 

. —BECAUSE— 

Each Letter has but one sign. 

Arbitrary characters do not abound. 

Each syllable in a word can be shown. 

Proper names can be written in full. 

Vowels joined where they belong. 

And there are no long rules to be remembered. 



Persons desirous of learning short-hand, \ NEEJD A COP I O P 

HAVEN'S 



Professionals dissatisfied with their system, J 



Students who cannot read their notes, 

Students who cannot write fast enough, yy y\ a ^ r-r~\ j ^ a j 

Clerks and Teachers who need higher wages, A XV x~\ \_j 1. \^J £~\ l^J 

Ministers, Authors and all Persons desiring to 

save time, which is to lengthen life, / PHOiS O GRAPH 1 , 



THE ONLY SYSTEM OF SHORT-HAND 

AVAILABLE FOR EVERY PURPOSE 

FOR WHICH 

PHONOGRAPHY OR PENMANSHIP ARE EMPLOYED. 



THE ONLY SYSTEM OF SHORT-HAND 

WHEREIN 

The Notes of one Writer, when cori'ectly written, can be read with certainty by any other writer of 

the system. 



PRICE TWO DOLLARS, 

Sent free of postage to any part of the world on receipt of above amount. Address, 

Curtis Haven, 

P. O. Lock Box, Philadelphia, Pa. 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 



PERSONAL ENDORSEMENTS 

OF 

Haven's Practical Phonograhy. 



Prof. Lewis S. Hough, A. M., of Media, Pa., says : 

I am especially pleased with the vowel scale of Haven's Practical Phonography, 
and make use of it in my own teaching for imparting to scholars the proper pronunciation of our 
English vowels. The book is altogether a wonderful improvement over all other published works 
on short-hand writing. 

President D. W. Batson, of Kentucky Wesleyan College, Millersburg, 
Bourbon Co., Ky., in a lengthy letter says : 

The exposition of your system is very clear, ar.d it seems to me you are striking out in the 
right direction. I have long desired meeting with a system of shorthand writing which was free 
from the two " styles " of other systems of phonography, and that would not burden the mind with 
so many arbitrary contractions and exceptions to first principles. 

Fred. A. Hoag, of the reportorial staff of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, 
writes : 

I have read with pleasure Haven's Practical PHONOGRAPHY, and find it to be, in my 
estimation, a book fully calculated to subserve the true interests of all desiring to become conversant 
with short-hand writing, as it is used by the profession. 

The following briefer though decidedly convincing testimonials are also 
well worth perusing : 

I have been trying phonography for some time by Graham's system, but it is not as easy 
or as clear as yours. — R. B. Corbett, 3 North Market street, Nashville, Tenn. 

Yours is the most brief, legible and consistent phonography I have ever examined. — 
Charles II. Rollins, Short-Hand Reporter for The Daily Republican, Pinghampton, N. Y. 

Yours is an excellent system of phonography. T am much pleased with it, and shall 
acquaint others with the superiority of your system. — F. II. Teskey, Kincardine, Ontario, Canada. 

I consider your system to be far superior for verbatim reporting to the purest Isaac Pitman 
style. — David Hunt Ludlow, Esq., Attorney at Law, and a former writer of Isaac Pitman phonog- 
raphy, 727 Walnut street, Philadelphia. 

I have carefully compared your book, Practical PhonoCxRAPHY, with both Graham's 
and Munson's systems, and, as a self-instructor in the art, I consider it far superior to either. — 
Charles Thomas, Grand Rapids, Mich. 

You certainly have done a noble work in the publication of your text-book. — N. P. 
Heffley, 260 Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., professional phonographer and author of the Life 
of Marcus Tubus Tiro, the Father of Stenography. 

Two Dollars sent to Curtis Haven, I*. O. Lock Box, Philadelphia, Pa., 
will secure the Book, free of postage, to any address. 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 

WHAT THE NEWSPAPERS SAY 

ABOUT 

Haven's Practical Phonography 



From the Brooklyn (N. Y.) Daily Times : 

This work commends itself by its clearness and simplicity. It is a safe guide to follow, 
observes all the philosophic rules on which the first systems of phonography were based, and con- 
tains rules, reading exercises, examples and word and phrase contractions. 

From the New York Commercial Advertiser : 

This book is well arranged, and the different lessons and exercises all that the author, who 
is an experienced teacher, claims for them. There are innumerable exercises in reportorial pho- 
nography, and an excellent vocabulary is added to the volume. 

From the Evening Transcript, Boston, Mass. : 

In too many systems, as the learner progresses, he is obliged to throw aside the teachings 
of the early stages. This Mr. Haven avoids by so arranging lessons that the different phases of the 
study are grouped under their natural heads. That there is less ground to be traversed, through 
Mr. Haven's book, for the attainment of the desired end, is apparent by only a casual examina- 
tion of it. 

From the Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia, Pa. : 

The most intelligible work on the subject yet published. We commend this handsome 
book to those who may be preparing themselves either for newspaper reporting, for court cases or 
for other work where it is desirable to take down exactly the language of speakers. 

Here are a few crisp, right to the point utterances, to conclude with : 

Mr. Haven's art can be readily understood by any one of common intelligence. — Penny 
Post, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

The author is an expert in his line, and has established a reputation which places him at 
the head of the profession, and makes his present work especially valuable. — Daily Courier, 
Camden, N. J. 

A book that can be recommended for its practical character. — Evening Telegraph, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

A valuable wcrk for anyone desiring complete acquaintance with the art. — Liberal Press, 
Woo'dbury, N. J. 

Mr. Curtis Haven, a phonographer of national repute, has spent some years in perfecting 
his book on Practical Phonography, and it is a work of especial interest. — Evening Star, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Two Dollars sent to Curtis Haven, P. o. Lock Box, Philadelphia, Pa., 
will secure the Book, free of postage, to any address. 



10 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 



A BRIEF AND ACCURATE 

History of Short-Hand Writing, 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES. 



The first writer of short-hand, the father of stenography, was Marcus Tullius Tiro, a freed- 
man of Cicero's, who invented a method of short-hand writing consisting of 6,000 different charac- 
ters representing as many different words. Tiro completed his system in the year 63 B. C, and 
this first method, which was known as Tironean Notes, was employed with more or less alterations 
and improvements, down to the latter part of the last century. Stenography was brought into 
England at the time of the conquest of that country by the Romans, and though at one time for- 
bidden use in the courts by the Emperor Justinian, yet, in the following century, after his death, it 
came into use again, and was later employed by the English Government for Parliamentary report- 
ing. In the beginning of the present century several English Parliamentary reporters came to the 
conclusion that as there were only about forty-five actual sounds in all spoken languages, that it 
would be much easier to employ alone a sign for each separate sound, write all spoken words in 
accordance with the sound they contained, and thus save the short-hand writer the trouble of learn- 
ing 6,000 arbitrary signs for as many words. This reasoning is supposed to have been first suggested 
by a Parliamentary reporter named Taylor, whose ideas were employed afterwards, in a more 
methodical manner, by a confrere of his, named Harding. 

The new scheme of sound-writing contained so many advantages over its cumbersome pre- 
decessor, that it commanded the attention of many scientific men of the time, and others interested 
in educational progress. Among the latter was a certain obscure academical teacher named Isaac 
Pitman, who was then (about the year 1830) the principal of a private academy at Wotten-under- 
Edge, in Gloucestershire. This gentleman became so thoroughly interested in the art that he 
immediately made the acquaintance of all persons (mostly reporters) alike interested in the subject; 
and, at the meetings which afterwards occurred between them, improvements in the art were sug- 
gested and many experiments (some, of course, afterwards found to be worthless) were made. 
However, Mr. Pitman, who had been an amateur writer of stenography for many years, was soon 
imbued with a desire to publish a work on the new art, and having (as a labor of love, occupying 
three years) examined and verified every parallel passage in the celebrated Baxter Bible for the 
great Bible publishers of London, Samuel Baxter & Sons, that firm consented, in 1837, to publish 
Mr. Pitman's work on the subject, which was entitled "Stenographic Sound-Hand." It was a 
shabby little book, price four pence, and was a presentation of the new art as perfected at the meetings, 
and by the help of all the members of that association, of which Isaac Pitman was simply one 
member. Isaac Pitman carefully edited the book he issued, but he is not, as some suppose, the 
inventor of the art, he having himself publicly denied the inventorship in a speech at Birmingham, 
England. The first English arrangement of the art was the result of the combined inventions of 
Messrs. Taylor, Harding, S. A. Good, A. J. Ellis, and probably a dozen other members of the first 
phonographic association of England. 

In 1840 the new short-hand scheme, systematized by Isaac Pitman, was published under the 
title which the art has held ever since — i. e., " Phonography," — and its author has since issued over 
thirty different editions of his work, each one differing slightly from the preceding one — none, how- 
ever keeping pace with the times since 1850. Mr. Isaac Pitman, though not the pioneer in the art, 
was nevertheless the first publisher of a treatise as far as England is concerned; but preceding his 
publication of " Stenographic Sound-Hand " in that country, one Phineas Bailey, of Burlington, 
Vermont, had, in 1819, published a work entitled " A Pronouncing Stenography, containing a com- 
plete system of short hand writing, governed by the knowledge of sounds," (that is, phonography) 
showing that America was really the pioneer in the art, and Phineas Bailey (an American) the 
real father of phonography, as Tiro was the father of stenography. How Mr. Bailey came to issue 
his work — whether he gained his information from the early English Parliamentary reporters, or 
whether his discovery was simply coeval with them — we cannot say, but certain it is his theory was 
precisely that which distinguished Isaac Pitman's first " Phonography," and, as we have seen, pre- 
ceded the latter's work by eighteen years. 

In 1850, Mr. Elias Longley, of Cincinnati, Ohio, brought out his "American Manual of 
Phonography," followed in 1855 by "Ben Pitman's American Manual." Mr. Ben Pitman was a 
brother of Isaac Pitman, and had been sent to America by his brother to introduce the art here. 
Meanwhile the changes made by Mr. Isaac Pitman in England, did not please his brother Ben in 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 



II 



America, and furthermore, the necessities of the art here being slightly different from the use of it 
in England, necessitated certain changes on the part of Ben Pitman's presentation of the art, and 
hence the two brothers disagreed radically, so much so that the bitterest feeling existed between 
them for a time. In 1858, Andrew J. Graham, then an enterprising New York newspaper reporter, 
observing the deficiencies of previous works for reports requiring great speed, issued his " Hand- 
Book of Standard Phonography," which, while containing numerous improvements upon the old 
method and devices for gaining speed, did so at a tremendous sacrifice of legibility, thus necessi- 
tating .much guess work in reading one's notes. 

Since the publication of Graham's work, Munson, Burns and several others, noting the de- 
ficiency of the other text books, have each in their own way attempted to improve the art, and have 
accomplished more or less good results where their experience showed them a way ; but all still 
presented the art with most of the difficulties in learning it retained — that is, the want of perspic- 
uity in explaining the art, and the presentation of three forms of writing (primary or elementary, 
corresponding and reporting style), when the reporting style is sufficient, and is, in truth, the only 
style of practical use in any kind of work (office or otherwise) and is, therefore, the only style 
necessary to learn, especially as it can be employed for all purposes much better than the more ele- 
mentary styles can, besides being easier learned by beginners if they commence with it. The learn- 
ing of forty-four vowel signs (never used by professionals) is also inculcated in all those text-books, 
besides the memorizing of three different signs for each of some of the same letters of the alpha- 
bet, thus necessitating rules, showing in what instances to make use of the different signs represent- 
ing .the one letter. These books are also alike in error in presenting many forms which cannot be 
used in actual work, and leaving out many devices (secrets of the profession) which, if presented, 
would have saved the student much time acquiring speed and learning to read their own notes with ease. 
This deplorable state of affairs has existed in all short-hand treatises up to and including Scott- 
Browne's work. And, indeed, it was not until 1883 that a work containing these needed charac- 
teristics was published, the book referred to being that of Mr. Curtis Haven, a Philadelphia jour- 
nalist, law phonographer and teacher of the art, who, in February of 1883, issued his work entitled 
" Haven's Practical Phonography," a treatise, the success of which was pronounced from the day 
of issue, and whose already wide-spread popularity increases daily. There are many good reasons 
for this : The author, appreciative of the fact that all works on phonography, while they 
possess differences, possess also many points alike, does not seek to overthrow any good points akin 
to them all ; but in instances where other works conflict with the manner in which the art is used 
in professional work, and where the art in other books is wrongly presented to the student, Mr. 
Haven's book does radically differ. Its author does not believe in teaching students anything which 
they will never have any use for ; he does not believe in having three signs for one sound, when 
one sign will do for all ; he does not believe in flooding a work of this kind with classical terms, 
when plain ones will answer, and when one of the former kind would be a cause of hindrance to 
those who are trying to teach themselves ; he does not believe in surrounding an easily understood 
matter with the mystery which other authors have invariably bulwarked it with ; neither does he 
believe in making one book a bait for the purchase of another when the entire art can as easily be 
presented complete in one. Then, Tin the contrary, Mr. Haven firmly believes in couching the in- 
struction in such a book in as plain and easily understood terms as possible ; he also believes in 
training the hand, the eye and the ear from the beginning, to ways which, in the profession, they 
must ultimately become accustomed ; he believes in publishing in his work all the secrets of the 
profession, and all the new discoveries of value in the art up to date of publication ; he believes in 
presenting the art as it is written by professional phonographers, for he holds it as a crime upon the 
part of the teacher to impart the art differently from the way the instructor would himself write it. In 
short, Mr. Haven, throughout his entire work, evidently has the best interests of his readers at 
heart ; and a book compiled with such an object in view, coupled with a wide experience in all 
classes of work to which short-hand writing is applied, together with a knack of explanation such 
as Mr. Haven is known to possess, could not help placing his book at the head of all published 
works on the subject, and far beyond successful imitation. — From the Daily Post, Camden, N. J. 



4®°* Every Phonographer or Type-Writer Operator, and all persons desiring to become so, should subscribe to 

THE MODERN REPORTER, 

A Progressive Monthly Journal of Practical Phonography and 
Type- Writing, for Learners, Advanced Students and the Pro- 
fession. Subscription Price, Two Dollars a Year in advance, 
postage free. Single Copies, Twenty-five Cents each. 
Contents of Each Number. — Self-Teaching Lessons in Haven's Practical Phonography and Type-Writing; 
Reading Exercises in Short-Hand for Advanced Students and Professionals ; Editorials on Current Events in the Pho- 
nographic, Type-Writing and Journalistic World; Items, Personal and Otherwise; an Everybody's Department, etc. 
Address, CURTIS HAVEN, Editor and Publisher, 

P. O. Lock Box, Philadelphia, Pa. 




j 2 THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 

THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH CREATED 

Haven's Practical Phonography, 



TOLD BY THE AUTHOR. 



My first knowledge of short-hand writing was gained at the age of nine years, when my 
father, a journalist and enthusiastic Graham writer, instructed me in the rudiments of the art at 
intervals during a year. I remember having gotten far enough advanced to be able to read 
" Damon and Pythias" as it appeared in Giaham's book, when circumstances arose which caused 
my discontinuance of the study, and it was not resumed again until my sixteenth year, when I at- 
tempted it on my own account — my father in the meantime having deceased. 

Not knowing at that time that there existed any difference in the art as presented in the 
several published works on the subject (especially as the alphabet in both Graham's and Ben Pit- 
man's manuals are virtually the samej, I continued my study from the latter, and so particular was 
I to follow the rules of the book, one of which was to beco.ne absolutely perfect in the lessons 
therein contained, that I probably repeated the study of each lesson of the manual several hundred 
times, working at least two hours daily, excepting during the hotest months of the summer, for 
quite two years, before I felt, according to Ben Pitman's advice, perfect enough to attempt his new 
book — the Reporter's Companion. When I did venture on the Companion, however, I had mas- 
tered the manual so thoroughly that I had actually memorized the entire work, typographically as 
well as phonographically, and thus prepared, the Reporter's Companion was studied with equal 
avidity and thoroughness for over a year, after which the Phrase Book of the same author was also 
mastered. But even with all this knowledge of correct outlines (according to Ben Pitman's ar- 
rangement of them) four years of hard study, including two hours' daily dictation practice 
for gaining speed, passed without my being able to write more than a hundred words per minute. 
That speed, however, gained me a position as amanuensis with a young mercantile firm in Phila- 
delphia, whose head was also the editor of a commercial paper of the same city, and a writer for 
several of the city's dailies. With a fascination for newspaper life, this connection led me into the 
newspaper arena, and procured for me much overwork upon the Philadelphia dailies, and occasion- 
ally on those of outside towns ; but the work being mostly of a kind requiring great rapidity of 
hand, and being by nature a slow long-hand writer, I soon found that a complete knowledge of 
Ben Pitman's phonography, even with the most laborious practice, was insufficient for such pur- 
poses, as do what I would I could not gain a greater speed than one hundred words a minute. 
Have speed, however, I must if it were possible, and turning to Graham for relief, I found that a 
few months severe application to Graham's differences actually gave me me a speed of over two 
hundred words aminute, so that I was enabled to take the most rapid speakers; but, sad to relate, 
quite as serious a difficulty arose here. I discovered that while Graham's method was all to me that 
could be desired in point of speed, yet for correct transcription it could not be depended upon — I 
could not, with certainty, read my own notes. This new trouble was a severer trial to me than its 
predecessor, until a fellow short-hand writer came to my relief by explaining the extreme legibility 
of Isaac Pitman's style, when, as a matter of course, that system was attacked by me, and I may 
truly say that I had the Isaac Pitman fever very badly for about six months, during which time I 
had no difficulty whatever in ascertaining the extreme legibility of the Isaac Pitman style, and, in 
fact, found it to be fully as legible as ordinary long-hand and quite as rapid, but not much more so. 
As I was, therefore, at this point, no better off than with Mr. Ben Pitman's method, I assailed Mr. 
Munson's, but experience with it resulted simply in the discovery that it was about as rapid as either 
of the Pitman's, and no more legible than Graham's. Burn's, Longley's and other published 
works on short-hand were in turn looked to for the desired relief, and the field exhausted with- 
out my learning anything more satisfactory than that each of the foregoing methods possessed 
good points of their own, together with as many failings, and I finally came to the conclusion that 
the grand ultimatum of short-hand writing would be reached if Graham's speed could be com- 
bined with the legibility of either of the Pitman's. This idea I at once set about making a practical 
fact, and by combining some original ideas with points common to all works on phonography, I 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 



succeeded in elaborating from the mass of phonographic information I had acquired, a method 
for my own purposes which at last gave me Graham's speed with the utmost legibility, and I was 
enabled in the year 1877, on tne evening of May 8th, to report verbatim for the Camden, N. J., 
Daily Post, a six minutes speech of Mr. Francis Murphy, the temperance revivalist, exactly as de- 
livered by that gentleman in the Third Street M. E. Church of that town, which speech was spoken 
at the rate of over 225 words a minute, according to the watches of the companions of Mr. Murphy 
who were anxious that he should speak at two meetings in Philadelphia the same night, engage- 
ment for which he* made, and which he could not have kept unless he caught a certain ferry boat 
from Camden. And as the ferry boats at that time made only two trips an hour it will be very 
evident to my readers why they timed him, and there were hundreds of people there who remember 
the occurrence. The speech rilled over two columns of the next day's issue of the Post, and is re- 
produced in Part III of my work, entitled " Haven's Practical Phonography," where the incredu- 
lous may count the words for themselves. At the time of this occurrence I had almost entirely re- 
linquished newspaper work, and was in the employ of Empire Line, the fast freight line of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, by which line I was employed as short-hand amanuensis for 
about eighteen months, leaving them to again enter the newspaper arena, this time to accept an 
important position upon the staff of the Camden Daily Post, above mentioned. 

During my connection with that paper, I made numerous verbatim reports of a difficult 
nature, but since the adoption of my own method of writing phonography, I have never experienced 
any difficulty either in making verbatim reports or in correct transcription of the same. During the 
first year of my connection with the newspaper business (in 1875), a young man called at my resi- 
dence to inquire if I would teach him short-hand writing ; and, if so, in what time the art could be 
learned. My reply was that I had no objection to teaching any one, but that my experience was 
that it would take probably four or five years for any one to acquire a perfect knowledge of the art. 
When this length of time was mentioned, the countenance of my visitor lengthened consid- 
erably, and after a moment of thought he informed me that a position in the office of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company would be open for him in a month from that date, providing he could 
learn short-hand in the meantime. He was willing, he said, to give four solid weeks, day and 
night, to the study of the art ; was able to pay a fair price for the instruction, and had somewhere 
heard that it could be learned in a very short time. 

This latter statement, in the light of my varied experience in learning phonography, seemed 
a very humorous one, and I therefore launched into a full explanation of my difficulties as a student, 
learning in return from the visitor that the railroad official who had offered him the situation would 
be willing to bear with a slow writer at first, so that if he could simply learn the theory in a month, 
that would probably be sufficient. But even this I thought impossible, and told my visitor so, 
adding, however, that I felt convinced that I could teach it as quickly as most teachers, on account 
of the thoroughness of my own study ; and was quite willing to do my best. 

The conclusion arrived at by the interview was that my would-be pupil should call again the 
next day, after first stating my views to his prospective employer. True to his promise, he called 
upon me and stated that the railroad official had advised him to leam all he could during that time, 
and matters would be arranged to suit his (the student's) capabilities when the end of the month 
arrived. 

Meanwhile I had not been idle. I had been spending the preceding evening, far into the 
"wee sma' hours aboon the twa'," looking over all the short-hand text-books of which I was the 
possessor, numbering all those from which I had studied (some forty in all, including readers), and 
had arranged a schedule of references to such portions of each book as I preferred, together with 
memoranda of such changes from old methods that I had made for my own use. This schedule 
consisted simply of references to different parts of the books spoken of, the only written part sepa- 
rate from that schedule being that relating to my own innovations, and the first lesson as I proposed 
teaching it to this my first pupil. The other lessons I was prepared to finish for my student as soon 
as he could take them and terms had been arranged upon. 

This latter was not a difficult matter to conclude, as my would-be student was ready to begin 
at once, and promptly made a full advance payment. The arrangement entered into was that he 
should receive one lesson daily, giving the day and portion of the evening to practising thereupon — 
a compact which we both rigidly kept — the result being that in just four weeks, to our mutual de- 
light, the entire theory of both the corresponding and the reporting styles of phonography were 
thoroughly mastered by the pupil. Then, however, came the practice for gaining speed, which, of 
course, was necessary and required longer time; but the position was procured meanwhile, speed 
was gained while in it, and this, my first pupil, has since then occupied one of the most important 
and best paying positions in the main office of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Philadelphia. 

My first scholar naturally spoke to his friends about his teacher, and I soon had more appli- 
cants for instruction in the art than I could write lessons for, so that I was forced to get them pub- 
lished, and some of the inquiries being for instruction by mail, the lessons had to be arranged on 



j a THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORTHAND WRITING. 

separate sheets, so that they could be sent separately as taken. The sheets I entitled "Havens 
Improved Phonographic Charts," each one containing an exercise and key with instructions to the 
student, the instruction and long-hand key being printed, the exercises and other short-hand illus- 
trations being filled in with a pen as needed. The winter after the printing of these charts, I 
concluded to advertise for evening scholars, and my class that winter numbered over twenty-five 
students of both sexes, whose ages ranged from sixteen to forty-five years. As the lesson charts 
contained very few word-sign abbreviations, this class, as it progressed, soon made it evident to me 
that, for special work, a small book of abbreviated outlines (a sort of dictionary of the best word- 
forms) separate from the lessons, was needed for the use of some of the scholars; hence, 1 issued, 
in the early part of the following year, 1878, "Haven's Pocket Compendium of Phonographic 
Word-Signs," a little book of fifteen 3x5 inch pages, containing nearly five hundred word abbre- 
viations, applicable to any special work, but intended, of course, only for study at the option of the 
pupil, as no one student would probably need one-eighth of them in his or her own particular 
work. Following upon this, in April, 1878, I issued "Haven's Complete Phonographic Reader, 
comprising exercises for dictation in the highest practical conception of the art of sound writing, 
selected mostly from the author's own professional practice." In this book I presented for the prac- 
tice of the student, examples of amanuensis work, newspaper interviewing, court, convention and 
speech reporting, covering the entire field of the short hand writer's labor. This I was enabled to 
do because of the fact that by this time I had acquired considerable experience in all the branches of 
the profession, having made probably over a thousand verbatim newspaper reports alone, besides re- 
porting various conventions during and previous to the Centennial Celebration at Philadelphia, in 
addition to some very difficult work in the Supreme and lower Courts of New Jersey, and my other 
labor before alluded to. My lesson charts, as first printed, were, partly on account of the hurry in 
which they were gotten up, necessarily imperfect in some important matters — I having from force of 
habit unconsciously included some reporting outlines among the exercises of the corresponding style. 
In addition, there were some explanations to the lessons which either should have been more thor- 
oughly explained or in a clearer form, so that I made a practice, very early in my teaching experience 
of noting points which scholars had occasion to inquire about, and putting those notes carefully 
away, so that when it was necessary to print an additional supply of charts they could be corrected 
accordingly. But insufficient explanations of points in the lessons and the placement of outlines 
ahead of the lesson were not the only corrections that I concluded to make. It is a fact known to all 
phonographers of much experience, that the profession acquire a great many little tricks of writing 
that are unknown to the amateur writer, and that were not, previous to the publication of my latest 
work, to be found in any text book of the art. These were matters which, heretofore, could only be 
acquired by actual contact with the profession during years of labor, and could not be gained from 
books; but which were of as much importance in gaining speed and reading rapidly written short- 
hand writing as the study of the principles of the art themselves. Professional short-hand writers, 
even though experienced teachers, do not often think to inform the student of these particulars, prin- 
cipally because they themselves gained them so gradually and now use them so unconsciously that they 
have really forgotten how they acquired them, and using them by habit, it does not occur to them 
that the text-books of the system from which they teach contain no reference whatever to these im- 
portant points. Such was the case with myself when I first taught, my attention being called to the 
omissions by a habit I made, as early as 1S76. of giving to my pupils, for reading practice, the notes 
which I had made during the day and had no further use for. Meeting with these deviations in my 
notes, students naturally asked for an explanation of them, and being informed that those were little 
tricks of writing which rapid writers sometimes take advantage of, they as naturally wanted still fur- 
ther to know why scholars could not be posted on these matters in the lessons? For instance, why 
scholars could not be taught in- their lessons to write a light curved sign for a letter instead of a heavy 
curve, especially where the light sign was always used in rapid reporting, and was just as legible 
besides giving greater speed. These questions were certainly very clear ones, and knowing that it 
took three times as long to make a heavy curved line as it would a light curved one, and that, therefore, 
a very important element of speed was at stake, I was compelled to admit that the only reason I had 
not taught students so from the beginning was simply because none of the text-books nor other 
teachers did. 

"But," argued the student, "do you not think it would be better for us to be taught so in the 
first place, and easier for us to learn, besides saving us the trouble of getting our hand accustomed to 
making a heavy sign, when, if we want great speed, we will eventually have to use the light one 
instead?" 

I forget my reply to this, but the argument was surely very convincing and reasonable, and I 
was in the same year (this was also during 1876), still further awakened to the ridiculous teachings 
of text-books in general, upon another scholar saying to me one evening after reading a lesson in the 
corresponding style where a great many disjoined vowels occurred : " Why, Mr. Haven, if it had 
not been for those disjoined vowels, I could have read that exercise without any difficulty, but those 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORT-HAND WRITING. 



vowels all look alike — and to puzzle over one delays me in reading ; besides I believe I could write 
those words in long-hand as quickly as I could ever first write a consonant outline and then lift my 
pen from the paper to go back in order to place in position several vowel dots and dashes, which if 
not written according to certain rules in relation to the consonant to which they are placed, will mean 
anything or even-thing, according to the powers of imagination of the reader.'' 

" True," admitted I, yet still willing to right a little for the old way, " but in reporting, we do 
not write those vowels. We indicate them by placing the consonants of a word in certain different 
positions, above, on, through or beneath the line of writing, according to the vowel we desire to 
indicate." 

" Then," said the pupil still rebellious, " why could Ave not have been taught that in the first 
place, and saved the learning of all those forty-four vowel signs which we must, in reporting, throw 
aside?" 

Here was another idea that set me to serious thinking for several weeks thereafter, and the 
more I thought over the convincing logic of my pupils, who, unshackled by the chains of faulty 
precedent, were actually teaching their teacher, the stronger grew the determination on my part to at 
least make an attempt at a new departure in the way of teaching, and I set about arranging a set of 
lessons which would teach the reporting style from the commencement, omitting everything pertaining 
to the corresponding style that was not used in actual reporting. To compile these lessons would. 
however, result in an entire transformation of the instruction, and would necessitate an entirely dif- 
ferent lesson scheme — one, too, which could not be perfected in a day, nor without many preceding 
failures, as I soon found. But obstacles did not discourage me. If I could not attain the desired 
results in one way I assayed another, and repeated experiments showed me at last why it was that all 
published text-books had persisted in following the time destroying method of first teaching a pri- 
mary and then a corresponding style different from their reporting style. It was because of the com- 
plicated nature of their vowel scale. They had, with it, no other choice, for their entire manner of 
representing the vowel sound by position was too complicated to be imparted at once, but needed to 
be given gradually, and in small installments at a time, in order to be at all understood. The defect 
observed, I had no difficulty- in determining upon a remedy. I simply originated a common sense 
vowel scale which a child could learn and understand in ten minutes, and which, from its very sim- 
plicity, would appeal to the reason and remain indelibly imprinted on the memory of whoever read 
it over but a time or two. The information of the new scale came to me like a revelation as soon as 
I had discovered wherein the errors of my predecessors lay, and though from its simplicity I was, at first, 
myself inclined to doubt its practicability, yet a rive year's subsequent personal trial of it in all kinds 
of work, before attempting to impart it to others, was quite sufficient to convince me of its value. 
One of the particular tests to which I subjected this new vowel scale, in connection with my other import- 
ant short hand innovations, was in the notable Inquiry Into The Facts of the May's Landing Disaster, in 
1880, wherein I was employed by the City of Camden, New Jersey, and in which case engineering 
and mechanical experts were called to the stand to testify to and explain the entire philosophy sur- 
rounding the explosion of a locomotive engine. Though unfamiliar with the construction and con- 
stituent parts of a locomotive engine, and still less familiar with the technical terms relating thereto, 
yet by the help of my improvements I was enabled to correctly record the exact sound of every word 
uttered, which testimony was afterwards written out, unaided, by two of my scholars who were not 
present at the inquiry, and whose transcription I had no time to revise, when it was called for by the 
foreman of the jury, who desired it read to his juryman before determining upon a verdict. At that 
reading the experts themselves were present,' yet not a single word was found to be incorrectly re- 
ported nor transcribed, a fact which, of itself, is sufficient guarantee of the superiority of my altera- 
tions of the old phonography. 

To say that the results of my experiments pleased me would be but to. mildly express my 
pleasure, and when, in 188 1, after these experiments had become facts, and I had begun to teach the 
new phonography, I had reason to be still further pleased. Children learned my new set of lessons, 
with the reporting outlines taught in the beginning, much easier than older scholars had learned the 
old method of teaching a corresponding style first, as still given in all other published works on pho- 
nography, excepting mine. And to make the lessons still easier, all the notations which I made of 
the questions scholars had asked about my previous lessons, I employed to thoroughly and in perfectly 
plain language describe the new series, adding to my invisible vowel scale many other improvements 
which had been likewise first tested in my own work, such improvements being additional to the 
secrets of the profession before referred to. 

The lessons, according to the proof sheets from which I began teaching them in 1 881, were 
so far superior to my first phonographic charts that there was scarcely any point which was not thor- 
oughly explained in the lesson to which it belonged, so that a question could seldom be asked about 
a lesson which was not already covered in some way in the printed explanation to that lesson. Proof 
sheets containing the long-hand explanation were pasted by me in a book given to each student, the 
short-hand being filled in with pen and ink. One set of proof sheets I reserved for my own use and 



THE SECRET OF RAPID SHORTHAND WRITING. 



pasted in a book affording an extra wide margin so that I could, if desired, make any new notations 
thereon. The result was that the margin became more or less useful until the latter part of 1881, 
when several students had gone through the lessons without having any cause for criticism. 

At this date, through the earnest solicitation of some friends of mine, I determined upon pub- 
lishing an educational periodical as a disseminator of my method of short hand writing, in connection 
with other educational matters ; and receiving the immediate encouragement of many friends and 
acquaintances, the first number of " The Clerk, an educational and progressive monthly journal for 
every wielder of the pen," was issued at Philadelphia, Pa., January, 1882. Since the publication of 
the first issue of "The Clerk"' many friends of mine, and other persons who became interested in 
the new phonography, advised me to establish a college in Philadelphia for teaching the art per- 
sonally, and as "The Clerk" was really as much of a book-keeping and penmanship as a short-hand 
journal, to also print a monthly paper exclusively devoted to the phonographic and type-writing pro- 
fession. The latter I doubted the advisability of; but, after the receipt of several applications from 
residents of Philadelphia, who did not want to wait an entire year for the course of short-hand les- 
sons to conclude in the paper, I was finally persuaded to embark in the college enterprise, providing 
enough scholars were forthcoming the following September to warrant such a venture. As a test, in 
the July number of " The Clerk " appeared an advertisement of both that fact and the additional one 
that probably a phonographic journal entitled The Modern Reporter, devoted entirely to pho- 
nography and type-writing, would be issued the first of the following year. 

The result of the college advertisement was the formation of a commencing class of thirteen 
scholars, and a like number of applications for private instruction. This being sufficient guarantee, 
to my mind, the Philadelphia College of Practical Phonography was opened to the public on the 4th 
day of September, 1882, the number of students being tripled before the end of the year. The 
forthcoming Modern Reporter also gave evidence of being a paper needed by the profession and 
and learners of the new phonography; and, as interest in "The Clerk" began to wane in a like 
ratio, (many of its subscribers writing to say they would prefer The Modern Reporter for the 
coming year) it was thought that, instead of publishing two papers, it would probably be advisable 
to merge "The Clerk" into The Modern Reporter, especially as ninety of every one hundred 
subscribers to "The Clerk " had stated in the letters containing their subscriptions that they desired 
the paper solely to obtain the lessons in phonography. Hence, what would otherwise have been the 
September number of "The Clerk" appeared with the phonographic headline of The Modern 
Reporter on its title page. 

December, 1882, brought the conclusion of my course of short-hand instruction in The 
Modern Reporter, and after carefully revising every engraved plate and typographic explanation 
and key, I added several prefatory pages ol The Reader, which I had issued in 1 878, followed by 
the entire contents of my Pocket Compendium of the same year; had all carefully engraved, ampli- 
fied and suited to the discoveries I had made and tested since that date, and was enabled, in Febru- 
ary. 1883, after much laborious revision, to present to the public my perfected self-instructor, and 
school and college text-book, entitled Haven's PRACTICAL PHONOGRAPHY, bound in black cloth 
and gilt, conveniently divided into four parts — Explanatory, Instructor, Reader and Vocabulary, com- 
plete in one volume. 

Thanking my readers for their attention throughout this lengthy, though, I hope, not uninter- 
esting recital, I am, faithfully, the public's obedient servant. CURTIS HAVEN. 

"THE OLD WAY GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM." 

" The old way is good enough for me," said a young man who had then been a student of 
the Pitman short-hand for two years, and was not able, at that time, to write sixty words a minute. 

" Indeed !" was the reply of a gentleman who had learned in one month the entire twelve 
lessons of Haven's Practical Phonography, and who, at the time of speaking, had been practicing a 
few months and wrote easily one hundred words a minute. " Indeed ! Then why not use a tallow 
candle in preference to gas or an electric light ? Why not use a quill pen instead of a steel or gold 
one ? Of what use, then, are railroads and steamships in comparison with the old stage coach and 
sailing vessel ? Why do not newspapers prefer to wait until a vessel can bring them news from 
Europe, instead of getting it daily and hourly by means of ocean cables ?" 

Why, indeed ! Of course eveiy one has a right to do as they please in this free country, pro- 
viding they do not interfere with the lights of others. A man may attempt to cut down trees with 
the back of an axe if he wants to, and it is nobody's business, so long as the trees and his time are 
his. But it does seem strange, to say the least, to have a citizen of the present age prefer to labor 
three to five years for the attainment of an object which he may be unable to become master of, 
even then, by the old methods, when a surer and shorter road is open to him by means of Haven's 
Practical Phonography. 

Two Dollars sent to Curtis Haven, P. O. Lock Box, Philadelphia, Pa., 
will secure the Book, free of postage, to any address. 



s 



